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Nigerian Meat Pie

Author Notes:Meatpies are Nigeria's answer to Argentine Empanadas, kind of. The filling however transcends repulge and lends itself to being baked in a delicious double crust pie. The key to the uniqueness? 2 things: 1)curry powder, and not just any curry powder but an African blend thats quite different from and the various Indian spice blends. You could substitue Jamaican curry powder or Madras in this recipe and you can make the filling a couple of days ahead. 2) the green peppers - the lend a peculiar flavour to the filling! The filling also freezes beautifully so I never worry about having too much! —Kitchen Butterfly

Serves: 1 large pie or several small ones

Ingredients

Nigerian Meat Pie

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup wholewheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

170g cold unsalted butter, cut into 20-24 pieces

1 lightly beaten egg

6 tablespoons ice cold water

1 portion of completely cooled meat filling (recipe below)

Eggwash, 1 egg yolk lightly beaten with a tablespoon of milk

Meat filling

500g Minced beef

1 – 2 tablespoons cooking oil

1/2 a medium (red) onion, chopped

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced

1 – 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

1 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)

1 teaspoon dried thyme (or to taste)

Pinch of ground turmeric

Pinch of smoky paprika

Fresh chilli pepper, diced and to taste (optional)

2 cups water

1 – 2 tablespoons cornflour/cornstarch

1/2 a green pepper, diced

Salt and pepper, to taste

In This Recipe

Directions

Nigerian Meat Pie

Mix the flours and salt in a bowl/ food processor. Add the butter and cut into the flour mixture using 2 table knives till crumbly. Add the egg and water combining with a fork until a clumpy dough forms.

Gather the dough and form two balls, using your hands to mold gently. wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for half an hour.

After 25 minutes, preheat your oven to 200 degrees centigrade and prepare your pie tins. You can make this in a large pie tin or in smaller individual pie tins.

Remove the dough balls from the fridge and on a floured surface, roll out the first one thinly (a couple of millimetres thick), to fill and drape over the edges of the pie tin. You want a bit of extra pastry hanging out so you can make a good seal with the top crust.

Fill the shell with the meat filling. Roll out the second dough ball thinly and place it over the top. You want it a little wider than the top so it overlaps the base pastry. Cut off the excess and using the tines of a fork, press down round the edges to seal.

Make steam vents in the centre of prick with a form and then using a pastry brush, egg wash.

Bake in the centre of the oven for about half an hour or more or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven, let cool down and enjoy with a salad of iceberg lettuce and tomatoes

Meat filling

Brown the meat in a large pan. Drain off the rendered fat and set aside.

In the pan used for the meat, add the cooking oil and when hot, gently add the onions, potatoes and carrots.

Let fry, tossing about for a couple of minutes. Put the minced meat in with the vegetables and stir together to combine. Season with the salt, curry powder, thyme, tumeric, paprika and fresh chilli pepper, if using.

Add a cup of water and let simmer gently on medium – low heat till the potatoes and carrots are soft.

Combine the other cup of water and cornflour and add that to the potato mixture, along with the diced green pepper. Stir well and let simmer for 4-5 minutes. Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary then set aside to cool down for an hour or two. To speed up the cooling process, spread the mixture out on a tray. The mixture should look saucy without being wet/liquid. If you think it is too wet, use a wooden spoon to mash some of the potato chunks, stirring so the mixture thickens.